


Under the Vegas Lights

by fangirl72



Series: 2014 [4]
Category: Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis - Fandom, Martin and Lewis
Genre: Angst, M/M, Post-Divorce, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-23
Updated: 2014-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:41:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28001073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fangirl72/pseuds/fangirl72
Summary: Jerry couldn't help himself. He couldn't stay away. But he never expected Dean to welcome him back, on stage, in front of everyone.
Relationships: Jerry Lewis/Dean Martin
Series: 2014 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2049543
Kudos: 3





	Under the Vegas Lights

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this back on May 9, 2013. It was my first attempt at Martin and Lewis fanfiction. I never thought it would see the light of day.

Dean/Jerry

Almost safe for work (Teen): This work has mature language and implications of sex without description

Summary (1737 words): Jerry couldn't help himself. He couldn't stay away. But he never expected Dean to welcome him back, on stage, in front of everyone.

Tumblr Link: https://fangirl72.tumblr.com/post/74257281990/under-the-vegas-lights

Some Things to Look Forward to: Reminiscing about not so innocent times that might have been. Implication sex

Jerry stood at the very back hidden in the shadows or so he thought. Dean looked the same as the day he stepped out of that elevator and he thought he had seen God himself. Or maybe Dean looked better than that day. He was so much happier. The stage belonged to him. Joke after joke he was killing them.

Jerry’s laugh was so loud the whole room could hear it and it was undeniable. He couldn’t help it. Dean was the only man who could make him laugh till' his sides ached. Maybe that’s what made his heart ache.

“Jerry Lewis!” A woman’s voice could be heard yelling.

Jerry turned towards the voice.

“It’s Jerry Lewis everybody!” 

Jerry brought his finger to his mouth, begging her to keep quiet. “Lady, you’re mistaken. Stop…shut up!”

“Jerry?” It had been so long since he had heard that voice speak his name. “Mr. Lumis is that you out there?” Jerry’s heart stopped. “Get the spotlight on him.” The light shone on Jerry. “Oh, shit….” Dean said softly. “Ladies and gentleman, my partner Jerry Lewis.” Dean smiled that warm smile Jerry remembered as he said the words.

Jerry couldn’t move. He just stood there staring at Dean.

“Martin and Lewis!” The crowd started to chant. 

“Get on the stage,” a few shouted.

“Whadya' say, Pally? Should we please the crowd?”

Jerry was transported back to that small club almost fifteen years ago with eleven people in the audience, half of them drunk. Eighteen-year-old Jerry stood in his waiters costume holding that stack of plates waiting for the perfect time to drop them, praying that Dean would notice him, look at him, smile at him the way he was smiling at him now. How many times had he hoped Dean would ask him to join him on stage or anywhere? His father, his brother, his best friend. He still wasn’t sure how to define what their relationship was and he didn’t care. The only word he had to describe it was love. 

Jerry was back in the room and he waved to the crowd. “They ain’t gonna shut up unless I do!” 

The crowd laughed. He walked to the stage. It took an eternity. Jerry wanted to run, trip up the stairs and fall into Dean’s arms. But he was Jerry Lewis, Jewish movie star. He strutted to the stage and acted calm. It was nothing more than a gesture. He knew everyone would see through it. They all knew how he felt about Dean and if they didn’t they were blind or scared of the love two men could share. And that made them fucking schmucks. He stepped onto the stage. “Hi Dean!” Jerry yelled in his nine-year-old voice. “I don’t need a mic. Everyone can hear me, right!”

Dean motioned for Jerry to come closer.

Jerry stood on the opposite side of the microphone just like the old days, except it wasn’t like the old days. They didn’t fit together the same. Jerry grew up, literally. His chest was broad, shoulders were strong and far apart. No longer was he a boy of one hundred and twenty pounds. He was a man now with five boys of his own, one of which would be a man soon. Emotionally, he had been through hell itself; in and out of hospitals and in and out of life. But he forgot it all: the years of pain, every word that Dean said and didn’t say that made Jerry ache, that sent him to the floor clutching his stomach with a pain that couldn’t match what he felt in his heart. He just wanted to be that boy again, who fit so perfectly in Dean’s arms. Jerry got closer. 

“Whoa! I see you’re drinking the labels.” 

That got a big laugh and Dean’s response got an even bigger laugh but it wasn’t a competition. He didn’t even notice the audience. The only reason for him breathing at that moment was to make Dean laugh. They went back and forth, the audience laughing at every word.

“What have you been up to, Jer?”

Waiting for this moment and thinking of you, Bubby. Jerry wondered if he should say that. The crowd would love it but Dean might not. Maybe he should just keep it light. Or did Dean see those interviews where all he did was talk about him and he knew that his life couldn’t be the same without him. Dean had to have known how much he missed him. But he didn’t want the spotlight on him. This was Dean’s show, Dean’s moment. 

“Actually, I’m a singer of serngs now.”

“Of serngs you say?”

“Mm hmmm. I have a very lovely singing voice,” Jerry said sounding anything but.

“I remember,” Dean said, wiggling his finger in his ear.

“You know Dean, I’ve been thinking about it these past couple of years and I was wondering if we could FINALLY do it?”

There it was that smile he had back in ‘55 when Jerry still had hope for them. Dean had put his finger in Jerry’s mouth to shut him up as a part of the sketch but he knew what Dean was thinking and he was so damn proud of himself. He would have played it up but the censors wouldn’t let it through. There were no censors now.

“Do it? Here? Now? In front of all dem people?”

“Yeah, together both.”

“Jer, what you wanted to say was duet. At least, I hope to Christ you were because I’m gonna need a hell of a lot stiffer drink!” 

The crowd roared with laughter.

“Yeah, that’s the one.” Jerry smiled. “I forgot the word.”

“But Jerry, we’ve done duets before.”

“Not in our pretty voices, Bubby.”

“Oh, okay. Ken,” he addressed the piano player. “Do you know there’s a bleedin hole in my chest cavity?” He turned to Jerry. “Is that alright Mr. Lumis?”

“Splendid.”

“Okay, I’m gonna need some help with the words. I’m on my eighth gingerale,” Dean said holding up his signature glass of apple juice.

“With hard ice cubes,” Jerry smiled.

Dean smiled back. “That’s right.” The music began. Dean reached for Jerry’s hand and interlaced his fingers with his.

Jerry looked at the hands for a second and the words came from his lips in perfect sync with Dean.

My heart cries for you, sighs for you, dies for you and my arms long for you. Please, come back to me.

They were close again. Not exactly like the old days. It was a subtle slip of a hand, a well meaning caress and it all came from Dean. They never kissed but Jerry was so close he could feel Dean’s breath. It was their chemistry, bigger than either of them. The equation of Martin and Lewis that equaled lightening in a bottle, something you couldn’t explain or ever replicate without the two. Sex and slapstick was the best name Jerry could ever come up with. The act was always about sex in some form. Maybe that’s where the ultimate tension came from. He knew there were people that would laugh in his face if they ever heard him say it but it was true. They never had sex. It wasn’t completely innocent behind the scenes but it never went that far. And it was Jerry’s doing. He didn’t want it to be about sex. It had to be more permanent than that. Dean had to want all of him. He had to love him. For the past couple of years he thought about the what ifs. What if just one time he hadn’t told Dean no and he had the memory of being his completely.

The show went on. They told jokes they told a thousand times before but no one cared. They ad-libbed. Boy did they ad-lib. Dean was comedic perfection. One funnier than the next and tailor made for Jerry. His timing was impeccable. He could have fallen in love with Dean all over again.

Half an hour had passed way too soon. They were doing their last song. Dean had his arm tight around him. When the song was over he embraced Jerry and kissed him on the neck. That's when Jerry thought he was Dean’s again. It was all over. The past four years was just a hallucination. This was reality.

Jerry wiped the tears away before taking his bow with Dean. The crowd was electric and why shouldn’t they be? They just witnessed history. They saw a miracle; Martin and Lewis together again. But they really couldn't be kept apart could they? That’s how Jerry always felt.

They walked off stage together. Jerry waited till absolutely no one could see them. He respected Dean’s feelings on them being seen together. His hand grabbed Dean’s wrist and pulled him towards him. He barely got to feel Deans lips on his before Dean shoved him with a force that almost scared Jerry.

“Get off me!”

“Nobody’s around it's okay, Paul.”

“No it’s not.” It wasn’t Jerry’s Paul who spoke. This man with the icy stare and gruff voice was the man he didn’t know at all. The one who hated him and wouldn’t tell him why.

“It was just a little kiss. We used to do that all the time when we were together.” 

“We’re not together. GOT IT.”

He screamed at Dean I know you love me. You have a responsibility to me. Tell me why. Why did the past four years have to happen!

But his mouth never moved. He hadn’t realized Dean was gone till' it was too late to run after him. He stood there his stomach and chest aching. His breath came in short bursts. The pain was back. This was reality.

-


End file.
